What in the? That's most likely the response you will be giving after looking at this review, and, more importantly, after playing this god awful game. When Tom and Jerry: The Movie was finally released into theaters, I remember quite vividly that it was only at the local "cheap seats" for about two days. I always wondered why, until I rented it. Luckily for us, this SMS game IS NOT based on the movie at all other than the fact that Tom and Jerry are in it. If it were, it would have been 6029348034869346 times worse than it already is. I actually breezed right through it in about 10 minutes, but, no joke, turned off the game because I didn't care anymore so I don't know what the ending is like.

Gameplay

Something tells me this game was intended for children, because it's simply way too short and pathetic for it to be for anyone over the age of 6. Essentially, you play as Tom and have to catch Jerry. That's it. I'm not kidding, EVERY level is basically the same thing as far as what you have to do. The scenes change, as well as the obstacles, but that's it, catch Jerry. Okay you think, so I have to catch him before a time limit goes down or before he gets to the end of the level? No, in fact, if he beats you to the end you still catch him. Whoopee. Oh wait, I was wrong, actually if you get caught between a barrier or what not and the back of the constantly moving screen, you die, so I guess there is something to avoid. You have a certain number of hits and maneuver over odd things put up in your path. Sometimes they make sense, but more often than not they're just an excuse to make the pain of playing this last longer.

Graphics

Okay, I'll give this game the graphics, they're good. I mean, really good, some of the best on the SMS. The character animation is of particular interest, very true to the cartoon and wonderfully fluid. Everything's very colorful, the backgrounds are sweet, and the entirety of the game is just nicely programmed, I was surprised considering. This is probably the only reason I ALMOST stuck it through. It's better to just turn it on and stare at the title screen, I was impressed with it.

Sound & Music

Hmmmmm, this was also good. Too bad they spent all their time on the graphics and music. The majority of what you hear is NOT from the movie, thankfully, but it's pretty damn close to the cartoon in some respects. Whatever it was based on, it fits surprisingly well. Great tunes. Most of the sound effects are pretty decent too, though there aren't many of them.

Controls

The controls aren't terribly bad, but then again there isn't terribly much to do with them. Tom runs, jumps (poorly), ducks, swims, and yeah that's it. Oh wait, he can run FASTER if you hold the one button in. The annoying thing is jumping straight up, you have to first stop dead in your tracks, and then jump up to grab onto the edge of a barrier to get over.

Replay Value

Scores

Replay, this is a joke, right? The movie had no replay value, but at least the game has a bit more, I suppose. The only value is that after you get your ass kicked playing something like Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, you'll come back to this so YOU can kick ass. It's so simple and mindless it's pathetic, really quite a shame.

Conclusion

I was really disappointed with this game. I used to have this thing about Tom and Jerry games for any system, and when I saw one for the Master System, I jumped at the chance to get it. Waiting patiently, it came in the mail with the likes of Wonderboy in Monster World. I put this in first and have since yet to recover from the depression.